The first reaction from my friends who are awaiting their L3 results when i mentioned that i passed was “welcome to hell” Starting will be the hardest part, but fro those of you who passed, how did you get over the fear and what did you change from the method you used for studying for L1? is it harder because of the Vignette style? or the material? or? Thank you
The vignette style definitely makes it more difficult. I spent probably 400 hours studying for level 2, and I was pretty convinced I would fail right up until exam day. That being said, when I took the exam I was very surprised, and I felt confident when I came out of the exam (and I passed). I think the minutiae becomes more important with level 2. With level 1, I focused more on drilling questions with Qbank. With level 2 I focused much more on the LOS and ensuring I understood and knew every one of them. I know that in previous years it was different, but I definitely found the actual exam easier than any of the prep provider mock exams this year. I did think the closest representation of the actual exam was the CFAI mock, which I also scored well in. The main thing is do every single end of chapter questions multiple times. Good luck.
for me it wasnt a big deal with the vignette - each question is still self-contained, its not like they stack. Quite honestly, its that the material is just flat out harder. And this time there are no shortcuts- topic weights vary heavily year over year. On L1, i breezed through derivatives, AI, and PM, because the weights were pretty low - on L2, you really can’t do that. Its not rocket science though. GO through topic by topic, do lots of questions, use your own notes or schweser secret sauce to keep core concepts fresh. and as always, there is an element of luck. THeres going to be some things you just aren’t great at - for me, i was lucky they didnt go heavy on AR models and time series analysis
If your using schweser do the problems at the end of the chapters, which are single format. Don’t waste your time on the single format problems in the Qbank. I’d strongly recommend doing only the vignettes. (click on the hard setting only). Obviously do all the CFAI EOC questions.
you sound cute - study group?? (im fat btw)
Thank you soddy1979, sounds like u really gave it your all, hope i have the stamina… smileygladhands- ouch, derivatives is definitely a week point i just hope they go easy with the forwards and futures, i got 70+ on those though oddly enough CFABLACKBELT- thank you, will do that, great tip imcrnhlio1 - haha totally offtopic yet much needed, im a few continents away 
If i had to do it all over again, I’d use the CFAI material mostly. They tested a LOT of minutae, some of which had verbiage Stalla didn’t use. The material will mostly be new to you unless you’ve done advance Master’s classes in Finance and/or Accounting. I have a MSF and only Quant had material I had seen before in any detail. I’ll update my guide over the next few weeks and publish with tips I used for passing.
jlive - thanks for the post, can you also give us links to your facebook page, myspace page, iphone app, driod app, blackberry app, and linkedin page? many thanks.
sungirl27 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thank you soddy1979, sounds like u really gave it > your all, hope i have the stamina… > > smileygladhands- ouch, derivatives is definitely > a week point i just hope they go easy with the > forwards and futures, i got 70+ on those though > oddly enough > > CFABLACKBELT- thank you, will do that, great tip > > imcrnhlio1 - haha totally offtopic yet much > needed, im a few continents away haha, swaps will have you praying for forwards and futures…
Where do you go to test your knowledge as you study? Mock is fine, but there’s only one of those. Schweser Qbank is thought to be inadequate. EOC questions are limited, and CFAI doesn’t release past exams. To me, practice exams are essential for cementing my knowledge. jlive1975 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If i had to do it all over again, I’d use the CFAI > material mostly. They tested a LOT of minutae, > some of which had verbiage Stalla didn’t use. The > material will mostly be new to you unless you’ve > done advance Master’s classes in Finance and/or > Accounting. I have a MSF and only Quant had > material I had seen before in any detail. > > I’ll update my guide over the next few weeks and > publish with tips I used for passing.
Stop stressing, I studied a similar amount of time for bother exams, probably in the 150 -> 200 range. If you feel like you are lucky to have passed the level 1, then you might be in trouble. Other than EOC, I didn’t even mess with the CFAI books, just straight to Schweser, both exams. No EOC even for the level 1. I got the Schweser videos, towards the end, due to time constraints, I started to do my reading as I watched the videos, I may do that entirely for the level 3. Then, after each reading/video, do all the end of chapters in the Schweser books. I saved my CFAI EOC’s till my review. Obviously, do the questions semi open book, challenge yourself, but figuring out the answers yourself, even open book is very effective. Probably saying “duh!” right now. Then, after my first run through. I went back to the CFAI texts and just flipped through the pages to see if Schweser missed something. Then I would do the EOC questions. So, I had a full reading/video, then a review. Then… PRACTICE TESTS, ALL OF THEM! I did all but the final half of the Schweser practice exams. I never failed a single one. I still did all of them. I did the CFA Mock exam, I failed the second half, which made me good and nervous. Anyhow, The level II is a slightly harder exam, I dont think anyone leaves feeling confident they passed. You end up spending an enormous amount of time on questions you don’t know.
My opinion on the correct approach differs from the ones mentioned above. It’s surprising to see so many different opinions on what constitutes the correct approach. That must mean there is no right answer. One thing that sticks out is that everyone agrees it is challenging and requires a commitment to master the material. Someone mentioned not to do single question Qbank problems. That might be a good idea, but that’s different than what I did. I ended up using the Qbank explanations to learn the material. Probably not the right answer, but I passed without using any texts (CFAI or Schweser/Stalla). If I had more time I might have built a base using qbank (gosh it’s quick to learn how to do L2 problems by just practicing L2 problems), and after building that initial base of understanding of all the material, then cement my mastery using CFAI EOC and reading the text in areas of particular weakness (which is about everything!) I think you’re right to be intimidated by L2; I still am. But once you get to work and dig in, you will hopefully enjoy the material. Much of it was novel for me, and I enjoyed that. good luck
Sungirl, Its the time to become Sunwoman28 :). CFA L2 is a marathon not a sprint and the road is tough. Its the toughest of all three levels in terms of volume. I have a friend who passed L1 on first try (from zilch/ nil background in finance). He failed level 2 twice(band 10 both times) though he studied like hell. Passing rates are decreasing every year. Don’t know at which stage of your career you are in right now. Do you work in finance. Do you plan to get an MBA in a year or two. The same amount of effort required for CFA Level 2, Band 10/9, can get you a GMAT 720. Conclusion: If you are early in your career, or work in finance in your chosen area, then you can study for CFA Level 2 for about 6-8 months and be reasonably sure of passing. Else you have an impending MBA or don’t work in your desired profile, the efforts are better focused on writing GMAT and going for a full time program.
hawgdriver Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My opinion on the correct approach differs from > the ones mentioned above. It’s surprising to see > so many different opinions on what constitutes the > correct approach. That must mean there is no > right answer. One thing that sticks out is that > everyone agrees it is challenging and requires a > commitment to master the material. > > Someone mentioned not to do single question Qbank > problems. That might be a good idea, but that’s > different than what I did. I ended up using the > Qbank explanations to learn the material. > Probably not the right answer, but I passed > without using any texts (CFAI or Schweser/Stalla). > If I had more time I might have built a base > using qbank (gosh it’s quick to learn how to do L2 > problems by just practicing L2 problems), and > after building that initial base of understanding > of all the material, then cement my mastery using > CFAI EOC and reading the text in areas of > particular weakness (which is about everything!) > > I think you’re right to be intimidated by L2; I > still am. But once you get to work and dig in, > you will hopefully enjoy the material. Much of it > was novel for me, and I enjoyed that. good luck Dude you must be having a sufficient educational and professional background in finance. This approach followed by newbies will leaving them in dust.
enjoyed the Sunwoman28 comment 
I am very early in my career, 2 years so far, and I wanted and started studying for the CFA because I always felt that I wanted to know more about finance, I felt the information in L1 was basic coming from a degree in finance, BUT very hard to retain all at once. I looked at L2 syllabus and the quant looked more or less chinese to me, MBA not in the nar future, not a fan. Might do one toward the end of my career an executive MBA to give me more insight. Thank you for the tips
I feel the biggest challenge that one might face from Level 1 to Level 2 (apart from the vignettes of course) is the number of questions. At level 1 you get away with 75 incorrect answers and still end up with 70% marks. At level 2, you have only 120 questions to answer (half of level 1 exam) and so the accuracy needs to be twice as good as level 1. Some of my friends who passed level 1 in Dec '09 struggled at level 2 due to this aspect of the exam. I also think that practice exams are critical, but one should go for these only after a thorough preparation. Best, A